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<br />J . -.LAND LETTER: The Natural Resources Weekly Report <br />GnU;;!, <br /> <br />Page 3 oD <br /> <br />And a 7-year study by researchers from the southwest office of the Forest Service's Rocky Mountain Research <br />Station completed this past spring found that keeping cattle at a distance from nesting sites does little to deter <br />cowbirds from co-opting flycatcher nests. <br /> <br />Karen Cowen of New Mexico Cattle Growers Association said she had not yet had a chance to examine the <br />habitat proposal, but that consultation requirement did seem to be more lenient than the recovery plan. Cowen <br />said grazing should not bear blame for flycatchers since the largest known population of the bird is on a cattle <br />ranch. <br /> <br />A long and litigious road <br /> <br />Like many other critical habitat designations, the flycatchers' has already been rife with litigation. FWS first <br />proposed to list the flycatcher as endangered in 1993, in response to a petition from conservation groups the <br />prevIous year. <br /> <br />The agency finalized the endangered listing in 1995 but deferred issuing critical habitat. The Center for <br />Biological Diversity successfully sued to force the habitat designation, which FWS issued in 1997. <br /> <br />The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals then set aside that designation three years ago, in a ruling that found FWS <br />had not properly conducted its economic analysis. The New Mexico Cattle Growers Association had tiled that <br />suit. <br /> <br />The flycatcher has also been involved in a number of lawsuits environmentalists have filed in an effort to <br />protect it and other endangered species. <br /> <br />A 2002 court settlement required the Federal Emergency Management Agency to consider the effect of its <br />flood insurance program on the flycatcher and other endangered species. In that suit, environmental groups <br />said uncontrolled development in the floodplains of the Rio Grande and San Juan rivers -- undertaken with <br />the help of federal subsidies from flood insurance -- was harming the flycatcher, silvery minnow and other <br />endangered species (Gree/m-ire, April 8, 2002). <br /> <br />ffii <br />, ~'I)I:J~I.I~III\I;, 1.1.1: <br />l\ www.eene\\.s.net <br />E&E Publishing, l"LC . E&E Daily' GreeJlwire . Land Letter <br />About E&E Publishing' Privac}' Polic}' . Staff Directo[}' . Contact Us <br />@ 1996-2004 E&E Publishing, LLC <br /> <br />http://www.eenews.net/Landletter/include/print. php ?single= 1 0 140404 <br /> <br />10/14/2004 <br />